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Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber (Composer, Organ, Copyist, Bach’s Pupil) |
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Born: September 6, 1702 - Wenigen-Ehrich, near Sondershausen, Thuringia, Germany
Died: August 6, 1775 - Sondershausen, Thuringia, Germany |
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Heinrich Nicolaus [Nikolaus, Nicholas] Gerber was a German organist and composer. He was born the son of a fasrmer in Wenigen-Ehrich. From c1715 he attended the school in Bellstedt and received lessons from the Kantor Errgang; from c1717 he attended the school in Mühlhausen; from 1721 he attended the school in Sondershausen and received lessons from the organist Johann Valentin Eckold. He matriculated as a law student at the University of Leipzig on May 8, 1724, and towards the end of the same year became a pupil of J.S. Bach.
In 1727/1728 Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber stayed in Wenigenehrich. From 1728 he was organist in Heringen. In 1730/1731 he stayed in Wenigenehrich. In 1731 he was appointed court organist to the Prince of Schwarzburg at Sondershausen (from 1749 also court secretary, substituted in 1773), a post in which, upon his death, he was succeeded by his son, the music lexicographer Ernst Ludwig Gerber (1746-1819). E.L. Gerber's dictionary of musicians (Leipzig, 1790-1792; revised edition, 1812-1814) contains a vivid account of his father's tuition under J.S. Bach.
Numerous keyboard works by J.S. Bach survive in copies made by Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber during his Leipzig years (1724-1727), including the Inventions and Sinfonias (BWV 772-801), the French Suites (BWV 812-817), English Suites Nos. 1, 3, 5, and 6 (BWV 816, 818, 810, 811), the first two Preludes and Fugues from The Well-tempered Clavier Part 1 (BWV 846-847), and some miscellaneous works (BWV 818, BWV 819, BWV 914, and BWV 996).
Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber's lessons with J.S. Bach are secured by the biographical Lexikonartikel (1790) written by his son Ernst Ludwig Gerber. This and the J.S. Bach transcripts of H.N. Gerber made during the lesson allow more detailed insights into J.S. Bach's teaching practice than with any other J.S. Bach's pupil.
References: Koska: A-15; GND: 130658081 |
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Works of Bach he copied [Manuscript No. in Bach Digital / Work / Performance date] |
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D-B 55 MS 10149: BWV 996
D-B Mus.ms. 455: Tomaso Albinoni: Sonate a-Moll für Violine und Basso continuo (Op. 6-6), BNB II/A/4 [copy date: 1725]
D-B Mus.ms. 40268: Compositions by Johann Pachelbel (11), G.E. Basset (1), C.F. Witt(e) (5), J.H. Ritz (17), Dietrich Buxtehude (1), Johann Krieger (3) and Anonymus (12), BWV Anh. 82 [1715]
D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 1221, Faszikel 1: BWV 812 [1725]
D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 1221, Faszikel 2: BWV 813 [1725]
D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 1221, Faszikel 3: BWV 814 [1725]
D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 1221, Faszikel 4: BWV 815 [1725]
D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 1221, Faszikel 5: BWV 816 [1725]
D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 1221, Faszikel 6: BWV 854/1 (as Prelude of BWV 817), BWV 817 [1725]
D-LEb Go. S. 8: BWV 830 [after 1730]
D-LEb Go. S. 9: BWV 818 [c1725]
D-LEb Go. S. 10: BWV 819 [c1725]
D-LEb Rara I, 11: BWV 808 [1725]
D-LEb Rara I, 12: BWV 810 [1725]
F-Pn MS-10: Johann Ludwig Bach: JLB 25 [c1721]
NL-DHnmi Source 3831: NMI Kluis F (Bachdoos n) (Depositum): BWV 772; BWV 773; BWV 774; BWV 775; BWV 776; BWV 777; BWV 778; BWV 779; BWV 780; BWV 781; BWV 782; BWV 783; BWV 784; BWV 785; BWV 786; BWV 787; BWV 788; BWV 789; BWV 790; BWV 791a; BWV 792; BWV 793; BWV 794; BWV 795; BWV 796; BWV 797; BWV 798; BWV 799; BWV 800; BWV 801 [1725]
Privatbesitz R. Kohn (GB-London), BWV 806: BWV 806
Privatbesitz R. Kohn (GB-London), BWV 811: BWV 811
Privatbesitz William A. Little, BWV 662a [Orgelbuch H. N. Gerber]: BWV 662a [c1730]
US-BER M2.1 M4 (Kenney 542), Faszikel 1: BWV 846; BWV 847 [Nov 1725]
US-BER M2.1 M4 (Kenney 542), Faszikel 2: BWV 852; BWV 853; BWV 854; BWV 855; BWV 856; BWV 857; BWV 858; BWV 859; BWV 860; BWV 861; BWV 862; BWV 863 [c1730 and later]
US-NH Misc. Ms. 568: BWV 914
Verschollen BWV 160, H. N. Gerber: Georg Philipp Telemann: Cantata Ich weiß, dass mein Erlöser lebt, TVWV 1:877 [= 160/Anh. III 157->]
Verschollen BWV Anh. 160 (6), H. N. Gerber: BWV Anh. 160; TVWV 8:10; Georg Philipp Telemann: TVWV 1:1066 (= Anh. 160, Satz 3) |
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Sources:
1. Oxford Composer Companions J.S. Bach (Author: Richard D.P. Jones; Editor: Malcolm Boyd, OUP, 1999)
2. Bernd Koska: Bachs Privatschüler in Bach-Jahrbuch 2019, English translation by Aryeh Oron (May 2020)
3. Bach Digital Website (May 2019)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (January 2011, May 2020); Thomas Braatz (January 2011) |
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Links to other Sites |
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Gerber, Heinrich Nikolaus (Bach Digital) |
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Bibliography |
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H.T. David and A. Mendel , editors: The Bach Reader (London, 2nd edition, 1966), pp 263-5
A. Dürr: “Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber als Schuler Bachs”, BJb 64 (1978), pp 7-18.
Sources: Gerber ATL, Bd. I, Sp. 490–498 (= Dok III, Nr. 950); Löffler 1929/31, Nr. 16; Löffler 1936, S. 111; Löffler 1953, Nr. 25; BJ 1978, S. 7–18 (A. Dürr); MGGo |
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